EA disputes claims that failing to report SimCity bugs in beta could get you banned from all EA games

Update (1/23/13): Looks like EA noticed the Internet was getting upset at them again and decided to take another look at the SimCity EULA. Apparently, this was all just another case of bad wording on their part, and they've already updated the EULA to sound less... frightening. Here is what the publisher had to say:

“The clause in the EA Beta Agreement for the SimCity beta was intended to prohibit players from using known exploits to their advantage. However, the language as included is too broad. EA has never taken away access to a player’s games for failing to report a bug. We are now updating the Beta Agreement to remove this point.”

Fair enough. An angry community can get things done, it seems. For those still interested in trying the game early, a beta will be held this weekend for folks who signed up.

Thanks, Smell the Chiken, for reminding us to check back!

If you're currently in or planning to get in on the SimCity beta, you're going to have to be extra careful around those bugs. Seems EA is toughening up, as evidenced by some harsh terms found in the SimCity beta EULA.

See, according to the end-user license agreement, if you run into a bug during your time in the beta, it's your responsibility (duty, even) to report it -- it being bugs, "undocumented features," or other such problems. Neglecting to do so may result in a ban from all EA games.

The reasoning behind this, according to the publisher, is that failure to report game bugs is the same as exploiting it:

"If you know about a Bug or have heard about a Bug and fail to report the Bug to EA, we reserve the right to treat you no differently from someone who abuses the Bug. You acknowledge that EA reserve the right to lock anyone caught abusing a Bug out of all EA products."

That's a tad worrying, but some have pointed out that EA really shouldn't know if you ran into a bug or not, so the threat is both excessive and difficult to believe. We figure that finding a bug and then spreading word of it all over Reddit or Facebook, however, would be an entirely different matter.

EA laid down a similar rule during the Battlefield 3 beta, and vague wording in their Origin user agreement got the publisher into some hot water.

If you know about a Bug or have heard about a Bug and fail to report the Bug to EA, we reserve the right to treat you no differently from someone who abuses the Bug. You acknowledge that EA reserve the right to lock anyone caught abusing a Bug out of all EA products.

soo.. how is this fair to the customer you treat the person who dont report or feel like reporting a bug and you treat them like other that has exploited the bug and ban them from all EA games? yea that sounds fair..

Harbgin I can not agree with your statement enough. EA is just letting their power as the largest game publisher in the world just get to their head. This seems like a rediculously extreme punishment for such a small matter. There used to be a time when I liked EA... Then a time where I could tolerate them. It's come to the point now where I don't want to have any relation to them at all.... This is just dumb...

Wow. just wow. If I am not mistaken Thq has a department for this thing or they should at least have another company do It. If they can't make a game without glitches than get a team to test it but instead they made the world their bug testers and failing to report in might as well be a death sentence to someone such as I who loves to beat the living crap out of friends in saints row or liberate America with co-op in Homefront. Hats off to you THQ.

Wow. just wow. If I am not mistaken Thq has a department for this thing or they should at least have another company do It. If they can't make a game without glitches than get a team to test it but instead they made the world their bug testers and failing to report in might as well be a death sentence to someone such as I who loves to beat the living crap out of friends in saints row or liberate America with co-op in Homefront. Hats off to you THQ.

^ SimCity is published by EA, developed by Maxis (a studio under EA). Unless you meant to comment on an entirely different article and simply misclicked...?

This comes back to the fact the game is always online and they're worried it'll screw up the game. Yet another reason to not like that the game requires an 'always on' internet connection to play.

I really hope someone out there actively searches for useful bugs and tells everyone about them. Sure, EA will catch wind of, and fix the bug forthwith probably, but they're basically asking the community to do something when they threaten it unreasonably like that.

Of course, they probably won't get the message and they'll just be even stricter with their next online-centric game.

quote Ded Valve

EA...do everyone a favor and go bankrupt. And while your at it take Capcom with you. Their IP's can be sold to companies that care.

Normally I don't like comments suggesting a company go down in flames, but this one is very apt. EA and Capcom seem to be trying to piss off every fan/customer they have, so why should they stay in business? Sure, it would hurt smaller companies that get published by them, but they can either find other companies to publish their games, or try the indie route in that case. It might affect the industry as a whole since they're both big businesses, but perhaps having the mighty fall down might force other companies in the industry that behave like EA and Capcom to take note and change their practices.

I can see where their coming from since the point of a public beta is to see if there are any bugs the test team misses, but this is way over the top. Banning from Sim City maybe (or just the beta) but this is just a fancy way of saying guilty before proven innocent.

Please tell me I'm not the only one wishing EA and Capcom dead, get rid of the pin heads making the rotten decisions yea, but asking for two whole companies to fall is a bit extreme. Besides wouldn't that just allow someone just as bad or even worse take their place?

I can see where their coming from since the point of a public beta is to see if there are any bugs the test team misses, but this is way over the top. Banning from Sim City maybe (or just the beta) but this is just a fancy way of saying guilty before proven innocent.

Not just the beta, or even from SimCity...But ALL (especially online-centered I assume) EA games, period >_>

I can see where their coming from since the point of a public beta is to see if there are any bugs the test team misses, but this is way over the top. Banning from Sim City maybe (or just the beta) but this is just a fancy way of saying guilty before proven innocent.

Not just the beta, or even from SimCity...But ALL (especially online-centered I assume) EA games, period >_>

I meant I could kinda understand if it was just being banned from this particular game, thought that would still be a tad harsh in this case.